Love, Lydia - Notes from a geeky, plus sized artist.

Friday, September 9, 2016

Let's Play: Molkky


Hello friends,


I've got a lot of exciting things in store for you this month as fall brings things back into focus.  Today's post is a fun review of a game called Molkky.  The game's maker, Tactic Games sent me a copy of the game to try out and review for you all (Nope I'm not paid to review it, they just saw I write about games sometimes and thought you all would like it!).  Molkky is a game that originates in Finland and is one of the most popular lawn games in Europe.  You can read more about it's history here.

Molkky




I was hoping to try it out with family before or during Labor day weekend, but nature had other plans and sent us some rain with the remnants of hurricane Hermine.  But take a peek at the video to see Bryan and I playing and enjoying this game!  It gives a much better view of the game pieces in action.

My Molkky Experience




In terms of the quality it's nicely boxed up in a very sturdy cardboard carrying case with a comfortable plastic handle.  The wooden games pieces seem to be made of a sturdy, but lightweight wood, probably pine.  The whole set is built to last well, and I think families will not only get a lot of use out of it since it's a game that's easy for all ages to learn and play, but also keep coming back to it each summer.  (Or if you're like us you can play indoors with bad weather!)  It's not as complex as some of the board games I play, but I really like games like this that can be played at parties and family get togethers.  If you'd like to get a game you can find them here through my Amazon affiliate link.  And you can check out Tactic's site here as well for more information.

Thanks for reading!  Let me know if you have any other fun board games or lawn games you want me to try out in the comments.  I'll have some more posts coming up soon.





Wednesday, August 24, 2016

August Book Reviews: Love of the Sirens and Batgirl Vol 2 Family Business

Hi Friends,


Yet again it's been a while, but this summer has definitely been a long, hot, and sad one in the news.  So I hope you all can understand my absences, as they have honestly been for my own mentally health, not because of you all!  I'm doing ok, but sometimes being online too much when there's bad news almost everywhere is just hard for anyone.  So I took a rather impromptu break....maybe I shouldn't have because I really enjoy writing.  It makes me glad to be back.  But let's get on to what you came here for, the book reviews!

August Book Reviews




I've got two for you today, and I want to keep up with at least two interesting book reviews each month.  I know some of you readers love it, and I'm really glad to share anything interesting I've read with you all.


Love Of The Sirens




The Love of the Sirens by Edith Zack is a little bit off my typical path of fiction and comics, but I really loved the format of small historical biographies of women in music.  If you get to know me well enough you know I enjoy my history and women's studies.  So this book is a fantastic combination of both.  It allows many of the women who were well known in their time to be made known now to modern music and history lovers despite the fact that many history of music textbooks leave these ladies out.

There are twenty different women profiled in the book, all in historical order from 1098 CE to the last who was born in 1931.  There's also a nicely written prologue that gives a bit of an overview of women in the world of music and what has at times kept them from being as popularly known as their contemporaries.

I'll be honest, I haven't read all the stories yet, but none of them are terribly long.  It just right for a lunch break or before bed reading.  The women detailed are all what we might think of as more classical musicians or composers and lived in the western world.  There's nothing too crazy or exotic among them that I've discovered, but the fact that there aren't any women I could name meant I had to read this book to find out more!  I was given a copy of the book for free by the publisher to review, but as always this review is my own thoughts.  If you'd like to check it out you can find out more here through my affiliate link on Amazon.com.


Batgirl Volume 2 Family Business




Some of you may have read my somewhat frustrated review of the first Volume in this series The Batgirl of Burnside.  There was some rather sexist bits in what was otherwise a great story, and it left me conflicted.  It took me a while to get back to it, but I decided I'd add it to my birthday list, and then I did indeed get it for my birthday a couple weeks ago!

It's a much better volume, with a lot more emphasis on character development, and it includes some really fun storylines as well.  Barbara has to deal with family and friends who she wants to protect instinctively, while also learning to allow them to choose their own paths.  There's less drawing for the male gaze too, I really only noted it one or twice, whereas the other volume seemed to include it in every story!  If you're interested you can find this book on Amazon via this affiliate link or in your friendly local comic book store.

But Wait There's More....


I've got a lot of exciting things coming up, including another post about another amazing subscription food box.  It's not really the kind it's easy to just do a video about either, so I'm looking forward to sharing it here on the blog with you later this week.

Thanks for sticking with me.  I'm really excited to get back into the swing of things with you all as summer is finally winding down.  See you again soon!